Sunday, March 06, 2005

God save Mike Leigh

One of the quietest also-rans of the past 10 years, Mike Leigh endured another shutout at this year's Oscar's for his 'Vera Drake.' Here is a link to his play-by-play account of Oscar weekend as published in The Observer today. Precious excerpts are reprinted below for the lazy:

"And then those moments come. 'And the Oscar goes to ... Hilary Swank!' Rapturous applause. Fuck!!! I look at Imelda. She's smiling and clapping, a camera right on her. But I know how she's feeling ... How ridiculous! It's just as we expected, yet, oh, how disappointing! It would have been so great..."

"Best Original Screenplay. 'The Oscar goes to ... Charlie Kaufman!' Loud cheers. Oh, God! How we suffer! My camera's on me, and I clap away cheerfully, affecting great enthusiasm, although this is made much easier by my being a Charlie Kaufman fan."

"On the North Circular, our driver Paul asks about my goody bag. He's read that every nominee has received one, and that they're worth a fortune. I've never heard of any goody bag. Later, my sister mentions this. So do two friends."